It's the Little Things
by ShadoeKylie
Summary: Perfection Valley just gets the strangest visitors.
1. Default Chapter

**It's the Little Things**  
**By Shadoe Masters**

This is Story 6 of "The Great Burt Baiting Saga." These stories center on the characters from Tremors: The Series, and feature Burt, Tyler, and all the gang from Perfection Valley. There are also original characters of my own creation - just so you're warned ahead of time. But please don't let that scare you off. I hope you enjoy them. 

While this story is a romance, the people involved are not the most cooperative people in the coupling department. The romantic elements take time to unfold. 

Feedback: Please let me know what you think of each story. I love feedback, both good and bad, and the more detailed the better. 

Disclaimer: "Tremors" is not owned by me or my affiliates, but by Stampede Entertainment, Universal Studios, and their affiliates. No copyright infringement is intended - just some good, clean (well, mostly) fun! 

E-mail: 

Thanks to my beta readers: LadyNRA & the gang at work 

**It's the Little Things**  
**Part 1**

Perfection Nevada, 7/12/2003 

"This is the most disgusting one yet," Kylie complained. 

They were several miles out of town, in Perfection's local junkyard, looting parts for Burt's latest project. He wanted intact sheeting from the trailers, but as they progressed through the junkyard, each one they examined became increasingly dilapidated. 

"Don't worry about that," Burt replied. "We'll clean them up before we attach them." 

Kylie looked around the gloomy interior uncertainly. "Why can't we clean them up _before_ we detach them?" 

Burt only gave her a look and went to the nearest panel, inspecting each to see which he could use. 

"I don't see why we need these icky things," she said, going to the other side of the trailer and inspecting the panels there. 

"I just need some sheeting to protect the electronics and shield its heat signature. No point in building the ABDS if it's going to be the first thing the AB attacks." 

"Yeah, but do they have to be so... icky?" She poked a finger up and down the seam on the second panel. "Why don't you just buy them in town?" 

Burt shook his head. "Panels like these aren't made anymore. We'd have to go up to the next step, heavier metal sheeting. Besides, they're expensive and I don't have the money for that. These will do just fine if we put in a double layer." He knocked on one of the panels and shook his head, then moved on to the next one. 

"How about this one?" Kylie said. "Looks intact to me." 

Burt crossed the trailer to take a look at it with his mag-lite. "Looks fine to me. Shouldn't be too hard to pry off. We might be able to use the one next to it, too." 

Kylie went to the open door where they'd left their tools when they'd climbed in. She picked up the two crowbars and handed him one before putting on her gloves. "And just how many more of these do we need?" 

"If they're all this size," he said, slipping into his own gloves, "six more should do it." 

Kylie's face showed her disgust, but she nodded and knelt at Burt's feet. They'd gone through this process three times already, and worked out a routine. She pried at the bottom while Burt pried at the top. The panels usually came off with relatively little effort. 

_Relatively_ little effort, that is. This panel wasn't coming off with near the ease the others had. Problem was, they couldn't pull too sharply, or the panel would break. They'd been working at it for a while when Burt said, "I think it'll come off with one more good pull. On three." Both of them set their crowbars into the seam and got ready. "One. Two. _Three_." 

With one firm pull, the panel came free. 

And buried Kylie with thousands of writhing, crawling insects. Roaches, centipedes, spiders, and other small, multi-legged desert dwellers rained on her hair and clothes. 

"_Aaaaaiiiiieeeeeeeee!!!!_" Kylie lurched to her feet, trying to shake off the bugs. She ran into the opposite wall, stumbled two more feet, trying to shake and run simultaneously, then back into the wall they'd just removed. This only succeeded in raining more bugs down on her. Still screaming, she ran, vigorously shaking her head, waving her arms, and brushing frantically at herself. 

Burt lunged toward her, trying to catch her, but she moved too fast. First she bounced off the wall again, then stumbled a couple yards. Burt saw the danger and made another desperate grab for her, but he was too late. She fell out the open door and landed with a thud on the ground, four feet below. 

This seemed to have a calming effect as she only sat up and kept shaking, trying to get the bugs off. But at least she'd stopped running everywhere. Burt leaped to the ground next to her and helped, brushing at her hair, her shoulders, her knees. 

Finally, they were gone, but Kylie kept brushing and shaking herself, convinced they were still crawling on her. She scuttled a few more feet away after spying the bugs still near her on the ground, then got to her feet. She was still brushing at her clothes and shaking out her hair. "They're gone, Kylie," Burt assured her, exasperated. "You can stop now." 

She didn't. "No! They're not!" She cried. "I can still feel them! _Ugh!_ They're all over!" She shuddered again. 

"Well I can't see any," he told her. 

She only flicked off her gloves and started working at the buttons of her shirt. Burt turned quickly and started walking away. "_You stop right there,_" she commanded, her voice harsh. 

He stopped. Carefully, he turned back, afraid she was already naked. 

Burt was grateful to see that she'd turned away, though she was still shaking her shirt with one hand and brushing her fingers though her hair with the other. "Look at my back, Burt," she said. "See if there are any bugs there." She shuddered again. 

"I can't see any." She turned just long enough to glare at him. "I mean _inside_ the shirt." 

"I'm not going to--" 

"Do it!" she demanded. 

Burt edged over to her and glanced down the back of her shirt then quickly away. "I didn't see any." 

"Oh please," she groaned, shaking out her sleeves. "You hardly looked." 

"I didn't see any insects!" he insisted. 

"Are you sure?" she asked uncertainly, still squirming. "Check again." She shuddered. "And take a good look this time. They could be stuck to my shirt or something." 

Rolling his eyes, stepped closer. He lifted her hair out of the way and looked down the back of her shirt. He shook his head. Didn't the girl have any _white_ bras? His eyes followed every smooth, creamy inch along the arch of her back until it disappeared into her tight jeans just below the curve of her hip. 

"Check my hair too," she said, breaking into his thoughts. 

He pulled his gloves and ran one hand through her hair. It slipped through his fingers like silk, soft and shining. He made his hand drop to his side. "They're gone," he said hoarsely. He cleared his throat. "There are no more insects, Kylie." 

"Are you sure," she whined piteously. "I swear, I--" 

She'd started rubbing at her jeans now and Burt had had enough. "They're gone, Kylie," he barked. "And don't you think about taking those off. They're too tight to let anything in anyway." 

At last, she pulled herself together and started buttoning her shirt, her composure marred only by the occasional shudder. 

Burt resettled his hat on his head and turned away as she tucked her shirt back in. "I didn't know you were afraid of bugs," he said. "Nancy's spiders never seem to bother you." 

Kylie was designated to dispose of the bodies when Nancy killed one of the ever-present desert spiders. "On a one-on-one basis, I can cope. I just..." she paused to shudder delicately "...don't like to be outnumbered." She shuddered again, still running her hands up and down her arms. 

Burt shook his head. Women. "Are you ready to get back to work?" 

"Yeah," she nodded. 

Burt turned back toward the open trailer door, but Kylie had other ideas. 

She grabbed his hand and pulled him back toward the power wagon. "Come on!" 

"Where the hell are we going?" Burt demanded. 

"Bixby. We're going to buy the damn things." 

"I told you, I can't really afford--" 

"I can. We're going. That's it." 

"I still don't see why you didn't get the heavy-duty panels," Kylie said on the way back from Bixby. 

Burt shot her a glance. "Thirty-two miles and you're still saying that." 

"We'll just have to go get more, this way." 

Burt's chin went up. "The heavy-duty panels are more expensive. We can get by with the lower grade materials." 

"Don't blame me if we just have to go back and get the other ones anyway," Kylie persisted. 

"We should have just used the ones from the--" 

"_NO!_" Kylie said with another shudder. "I'm not going to go dig through that junkyard ever again." 

Burt's lips quirked into a half-smile. "I never figured you--" 

"Don't you start with me, Burt Gummer. See how you feel if you're ever covered in bugs." She shuddered again. "I've still got the willies." She glanced over at him just before he was able to wipe the expression off his face. "And don't you smirk at me, either." 

If anything, his smile broadened, almost including the other half of his face, but he decided it was time for a change of subject. "You want to stop in town for lunch?" 

"Yes. I'm starved," she said with a look at her watch. "I can't believe it's this late." 

They pulled into town and searched for a place to park. "I may have to get my gypsy outfit on, Burt. Look at all the tourists. Jodi must be..." Kylie turned to look at Burt as he continued through town without slowing down. "Uh... Burt? Lunch?" 

Burt had pulled his hat down until it almost covered his face, and studiously looked to the side of the street that had fewer people milling about. "Too many tourists," he muttered shortly. 

"We can get something to go," she said. "I don't _have_ to do the Tarot thing." 

"No. We can eat at the site." 

Kylie studied his face. She knew he wasn't at his best around strangers. He sometimes freaked out over dinner at Nancy's. But he never acted like this before. He was all stiff and prickly, and wouldn't look at her. And was his face a little redder than usual? 

She narrowed her eyes and looked back at the crowd just before the road curved around a hill. "Okay, what's going on?" 

"Nothing," Burt said tightly, his eyes on the road. 

"Who were those people?" 

"Not important," he said shortly. 

Kylie could see he was upset, so she dropped that line of questioning. But she was intrigued. Something was definitely up. Something to do with that particular crowd of tourists. She had to find out. Burt obviously wasn't going to tell her, but there were other ways she could find out. She started considering strategy. 


	2. Part 2

**It's the Little Things**  
**Part 2**

Once back at the project site, they unloaded the panels. Burt was ready to jump right in to work, but Kylie was ready to take a break. She stood scowling at him, hands on hips. "I'm still hungry, Burt." 

He stared at her. "I'm not going back to town. Don't start--" 

"I could go in and pick something up, bring it back here." And find out what's going on, she added silently to herself. 

Burt looked over at his truck, then back to Kylie. "I don't think so." 

Kylie was affronted. "My driving's not that bad Burt. I can make it to town and back without hurting your precious power wagon." 

He only raised a skeptical eyebrow at her. 

She tapped a small, booted foot. "So we're expected to sit out here and starve because I don't drive like your grandmother?" 

"All I'm saying is, if you would simply use a minimum amount of caution--" 

"I do! I'm _not_ a bad driver, Burt!" 

"You bent the fan housing on your truck--" 

"That wasn't my fault! How was I to know there was a ditch--" 

"If you'd've been looking at the road, you'd've seen the ditch!" 

"Well if _somebody_ hadn't been trying to teach me the finer points of tying square knots while I was driving, I'd've been _looking_ at the road." 

They stared fiercely at each other a moment. 

"It was a half hitch," Burt informed her. 

Kylie's face broke out in a smile and she shook her head. "You're not going to let me win this one, are you?" 

"No," Burt agreed. 

"And you're going to make me starve to prove your point?" 

"Not at all," Burt said, that smug grin back on his face. He started for the truck, forgetting their recurring argument. He'd gotten used to Kylie's lightning changes in mood. 

Kylie entertained, briefly, the notion that he'd changed his mind and they were heading for town. Then she caught herself: this was _Burt_. She hurried after him. "And don't you dare suggest we go hunt lizards again! You know I won't--" 

"Here." Burt handed her a brown plastic pouch he'd taken from the back of his truck. 

She kneaded the pouch. Felt like plastic, but crinkled like foil. Then she read the label. "Meal, Ready To Eat... Oh! MRE!" She looked up, holding the pouch out to him. "Nancy said never to let you talk me into eating one of these." 

"You're going to take Nancy's word for it?" His tone said everything there was to say about his opinion of Nancy. He handed her a bottle of water and walked over to the flat rock where they'd been taking their breaks all week. 

She looked at the pack dubiously, but followed. "There's an enchilada in here?" 

He nodded, then held out the pack he had. "Would you prefer Beef Stew?" 

She looked from one to the other. They looked exactly the same. "I'll stick with this, I guess." She settled down beside him. "Now what do I do with it?" 

He illustrated, opening his own pouch and setting out the contents on the rock in front of him. "There's your entree, a side dish, a snack, dessert, drink mix--" 

"Oh look!" Kylie broke in. "Tabasco sauce! Cute little bottle." She set that in Burt's pile. "Here, you'll want that." She pulled another small item from her pouch. "What's this?" 

"Toilet paper." 

She gave him a look. "Obviously, this was designed by men..." She dumped out the rest. "Ooh! M&Ms!" She picked up the only clear pouch. "Doesn't look like food. What's this one?" 

"That's to heat your entree," he said. "Just open it, pour in a little water..." He waited while she imitated him. "Then put your entree pouch in. A hot meal in ten minutes!" 

"O-kay..." She poked and prodded at the pouch that claimed to be a beef enchilada, then slid it into the water as Burt had. She set hers next to his and went back to examining the rest. "What, no candles? No wine?" She looked around. "Not even mood music?" 

"You could turn on the radio," Burt suggested dryly. 

"And listen to... static." Kylie learned early that local radio stations didn't broadcast this far into the valley. At least, none of the good ones. She tore open another pouch. "Oh look, it's a fruit... bar... type-thing." She pulled the orange-colored block out of the bag. 

"You should add water to that." 

Ignoring him, Kylie nibbled a bite from the edge of the block. After a moment, she shrugged. "Not bad." 

Burt ate in silence, listening to the comments Kylie made on every bite. 

He smiled when she opened her side dish, labeled "Mixed Vegetables," and grimaced. 

"Ugh!" she said, pulling the hardened block of vegetables from the package. "I think they mixed these a little too much. I guess nobody told them they didn't actually need to use a blender." She set the brownish block with green and orange spots aside and reached for the candy. 

Burt checked the entrees and they seemed warm enough to him. He showed her how to open one end and eat from there. She took a tentative first bite while he waited for her verdict. 

"Not bad," she pronounced with a shrug. 

Burt nodded as she ate a few more bites. "Told you not to listen to Nancy," he said smugly. 

She finished another plastic forkful before answering. "Well... this'll never replace home cooked..." 

"Unless you're doing the cooking," Burt muttered under his breath. 

"I heard that! And I'll have you know I can now make grilled cheese." 

"Still black on one side, pale yellow on the other?" 

"Funny," she said sarcastically. "Jodi even ate one. And didn't die." Kylie sidled next to him and dipped her fork into his pouch. 

"Hey!" He pulled the pouch out of her reach and slid away from her. "Eat your own." 

She ate the forkful of beef stew with an unrepentant smile, then held out her own pouch. "Mine's better anyway," she said. "Want a bite? _Some of us_ are willing to share." 

"I'm perfectly happy with this, thank you," Burt said. 

"Oh c'mon, Burt. You're just mad because mine's better." She got some on her fork and held it out. "Here, try a bite." 

"No." 

"Don't be that way, Burt," she insisted, walking on her knees toward him. "Just one little bite." 

"Kylie..." he began, a warning note in his voice. 

"Here." 

She shoved the fork toward Burt and he opened his mouth because he knew if he didn't he'd be wearing it. Still, Burt felt a tightening in his groin at the thought of Kylie feeding him. There was just something so... 

"See? Mine's better. And I don't mind sharing." 

She went back to her meal while Burt gathered his scattered thoughts. "You should give those vegetables a chance, then," he said hoarsely, more because he just needed to say _something_ than because he could recommend them. 

"Oh I don't think so, those are a lost--" Suddenly Kylie's Kimber was in her hand and she was pointing it at the vegetables while she scooted hastily away on her knees. 

Burt looked. Several insects had found the food and were enjoying the unexpected bounty. Burt rolled his eyes. "If you fire that," he said dryly, "I shall beat you." 

"But eewww, Burt. Bugs. What are they, following me today?" 

Burt continued eating. "Stop waving that thing around. You know you're not going to fire it." He'd seen this display often enough to know that Kylie could really only fire a weapon at targets. 

"Still..." She carefully scooted closer to the vegetable block and pushed it off the rock with her pistol. 

He shook his head as she surveyed the area for any other unexpected guests. "You're right, you've developed a phobia." 

"Yeah..." she grumbled, but holstered her gun. "Let's see how you react when _you_ get covered in bugs." As she was finishing up her block of peaches, she idly picked up the pouches and read the labels. "You know, this isn't bad. We could probably market these fruit blocks for-- _Three THOUSAND calories_? Burt! You let me eat three _thousand_ calories? In a single meal? Why didn't you _tell_ me this was so fattening?" She stood up to pace. "I'm going to have to run _twenty miles_ tomorrow to work this off! Goddess! I can feel my butt growing as we speak!" She twisted to look behind her. 

Burt looked too. Until he noticed her staring at him. He applied himself to picking up the trash. 

"Why can't I be bulimic! I can't believe..." 

She continued in that vein for a while and Burt shook his head, just letting her go on. She had the nerve to accuse _him_ of ranting. By the time he'd put the trash in the bag in the back of his truck and returned, she was still going on about the size of her behind. He shrugged. It looked just fine to him. That was the problem. It looked _too_ fine. And he looked altogether too often. He laid down on the rock and pulled his hat over his eyes. He didn't think he'd sleep, but it might just make Kylie stop talking to him. 

But the vision of Kylie's behind conjured up other visions, too. Not for the first time, the memory of Kylie that first night flashed into his mind. The image of her nearly naked body haunted his dreams and waking moments all too often. Lately, though, he realized his thoughts toward Kylie had changed. She was still too volatile, of course. He cracked one eye open while she contorted into impossible angles, trying to ascertain if her posterior had actually grown during the meal. He could assure her it hadn't. Unfortunately, he was fully aware of even minute changes in her, though he'd never admit he paid attention. She started her stretching exercises and Burt almost groaned. She bent down and touched her forehead to her knees and that brought things to mind too painful to consider. He firmly closed both eyes again. 

Once Kylie finished indulging in her overdramatic reactions to things, though, he found she had a quick, intelligent mind and a genuine desire to learn. She still seemed to have a too flippant attitude toward the more serious things, but Burt had learned to see through that facade. He sighed. He spent altogether too much of his time examining the girl. He really needed to spend less time in her company. 

But, he admitted honestly to himself that that wasn't something he wanted to do. He was already used to her theatrics and once he'd learned to ignore them, he found her fairly pleasant to be around. Even though they bickered incessantly, at least she _listened_ to his arguments before dismissing them out of hand, as most people did. She actually seemed to take him seriously, which he reluctantly admitted to himself, most people did not. And occasionally - not often, but occasionally - she was even right. Not that he'd ever tell _her_ that. She even brought up points in his arguments he hadn't considered, from time to time. He found he sometimes had to think fast to keep up with her, and he rather enjoyed the competition. 

Now if he could just get her to _shut up_ on occasion. 

Eventually, her complaints slowed and finally ceased altogether. His tactic seemed to have worked. Soon she picked up her radio. He heard her ask for Larry and then the two started talking about some movie they'd caught on television the other night. When they started trading movie quotes, he turned off his radio. 

Kylie watched him put her conversation with Larry on "ignore" and grinned. He could be so predictable. Good old Burt. 

"Larry," she whispered, after putting some distance between herself and Burt, "who are those people in town and why is Burt avoiding them?" 

Kylie returned a short while later, scrambled up on the rock and sat down, cross-legged, next to him. She waited silently, staring at him, until she saw him open one rather irritated eye at her. She grinned. "Fan club?" 

He scowled, and his eye swiveled down to his radio then back to Kylie. "I don't know what you're talking about." He got up quickly and resettled his hat, before striding over to the work area, the image of a man ready to get back to work. 

Kylie followed doggedly after him, almost running to keep up with his long legs. "Larry says those women in town are your fan club. 'Gummer's Groupies,' they call themselves. He's an official member now, by the way. Don't you want to go back and, like, sign autographs?" 

"No," Burt said shortly. He grabbed an end of one of the sheets, and stared at Kylie until she pulled on her gloves and took the other end. 

"You sure?" Kylie persisted. "There could be hotties. I saw this one redhead..." 

"No." He tugged the sheet into position and started hammering - vehemently. 

"But Burt... your adoring public..." 

He paused briefly to glare at her, then went back to hammering. 

"But, Burt... Your very own fan club. Who else has their very own fan club?" 

He stopped pounding and dropped the hammer so he could give his full attention to glaring at her. His eyes were wide and hands clenched into fists. 

Kylie blinked back at him, her mouth open for yet another teasing comment. This was Burt's mad look. Clearly, she'd gone too far. Again. She closed her mouth with a snap and looked left and right for inspiration. "Okay... so I... should hammer this side now," she said, reaching for the hammer. "Nail?" 

He tossed one across the sheet to her, only barely less furious with her. 

She set the nail into one of the holes drilled in the sheet. "Here?" 

He nodded, his eyes never leaving her face. 

"You know, it occurs to me," she said, tentatively hitting the nail, "I've never done this before." She hit the nail with a little more force after gaining confidence. "It's not so-- Ouch!" She quickly pointed the hammer at Burt, sucking her suddenly injured thumb. "Don't you dare laugh at me Burt Gummer!" 

She hadn't actually intended to hurt herself, but at least he was smirking at her instead of trying to flay her alive with that look. Sometimes, Burt could be so _touchy_ about things. 


	3. Part 3

**It's the Little Things**  
**Part 3**

"So how are we going to test this thing once we get it set up, Burt?" Kylie asked. They were on their way back from Burt's place, having gone to pick up the rest of the electronic equipment. They took the back way, to avoid meeting up with any of Burt's ardent fans. "Oh I know!" Kylie said, answering her own question. "We could get Messerschmitt from Siegfried and Roy and have him fly around the valley a few times. 

"Not likely," Burt said dryly. "I've constructed some AB-sized kites at designated test locations. We will simply deploy those and see the results." 

"Oh, that's what we were dropping off the other-- Who's that?" 

A lone car drove toward them on the dirt road. It was odd to see anyone besides Tyler anywhere this deep in the valley. And even that was rare. Burt pulled his hat down low on his face and turned away as the car passed them. As if that would disguise the very tall man driving Burt's distinctive power wagon. 

"It's some nerdy little guy, Burt," Kylie assured him. "He didn't act like he wanted your autograph, or anything." She twisted in the seat to keep an eye on the dilapidated orange car as Burt watched it through the rear view mirror. "Of course, he could be some gay guy and still part of the fan club. I'll bet he--" Kylie finally caught sight of Burt's white knuckles on the steering wheel and shut up. There weren't any hammers handy just now and she wasn't in the mood for anything drastic anyway, so she just kept her mouth shut and looked out her side of the truck, hoping time would calm him down. She didn't see why he was sensitive about this fan club thing... 

Burt hooked up the last cable and turned the last dial, then proudly, triumphantly, even, flicked the power switch on his new Prototype AssBlaster Detection System. 

There was a squeal as the system went nuts, dials flickered back and forth, the lights flashed, one unit shot sparks into the air, then everything shut down. 

"Dammit!" Burt started examining every connection from start to finish. "That system should have worked." He disconnected one of the black boxes, the disgust clear on his face. "Blew out my modulator!" 

"Hey look, Burt!" 

Burt followed Kylie's gaze toward the graboid monitor he'd set up for the site. It was considerably more powerful than the one in his truck, and they could keep an eye on it from wherever they were on the site. It was flashing too. 

He went to the monitor and readjusted it, but the signal just got worse. "Check the one in the truck," he instructed Kylie. 

"It's the same," she reported when she'd gone to look and returned. 

Burt turned the signal one way, then the other. "It's worse to the south," he muttered. 

"Why's that?" Kylie asked. 

He shook his head. "Something's sending a signal that's interfering with our seismo system." 

"Like what? You don't have anything else set up in the Valley." 

"It's not something of mine," Burt said, shutting down their equipment. His face took on the look he usually got just before he started yelling at her. But at least he wasn't mad at her. This time. "But I intend to find out what it is." 

Kylie followed him to the power wagon and they headed south. 

A few miles from the site, a three-car convoy approached them on the road. Burt busied himself adjusting the monitor to find out if the signal was coming from them. 

Kylie looked from the cars and back to Burt. Other than making sure he didn't run into them, he wasn't paying them much attention. "Uh... Burt?" 

Too late he looked up and noticed that the cars were filled with women wearing identical garish t-shirts with his picture on them. Or, rather, that ridiculous picture Jodi put together of him for the Survival School flyers. 

They'd spotted him and started getting out of their cars, flagging him down. They had the road blocked, but that was no problem for his power wagon. He simply swerved off the road and went around. One enthusiastic redhead stood on the back seat of the convertible she rode in and pulled up her top. Burt looked quickly away. 

"Not bad..." Kylie commented with a smile on her face, as she watched the show go by. "You know, this obsession on their part could be convenient for you." 

He gave her a puzzled look, forcing his eyes to avoid the rear view mirror. 

"Well, a couple of those chicks were kind of cute. And, well... obviously friendly." 

He still frowned at her. 

"You know," she prompted. "In case you get lonely..." 

"Out of the question," he said emphatically, his puzzled frown turning to a determined glare. 

"You could go see if that guy was interested..." 

He continued to scowl at her. 

"Just making a suggestion..." Kylie said with a snigger. "Hey, and speaking of the guy..." 

"Damn it Kylie--" Burt shouted. 

"No, seriously, Burt," she said, grabbing the binoculars from behind the seat. "What's that guy doing?" 

Burt followed the direction of the binoculars. Sure enough, there was a car in the distance. "That the same one?" he asked, trying to take control of the binoculars. 

Kylie pushed his hand away. "You drive, me look." She watched a moment more. "Same guy, all right. He just came around the car. Besides, I recognize the car - you don't see too many looking like that outside a junkyard." 

"Exactly in the direction we're heading," Burt commented suspiciously. 

Kylie's eyes slid over to him. "You think he's up to something?" 

Burt just looked at her. "What do you think?" 

"I think you think _everyone's_ up to something." She put the binoculars back to her eyes. "But then, he's not hiking. He's got some big box he's trying to get in his trunk. Can't get a good look at--" She looked closer. "Got dials and knobs on it, Burt. It's got to be him." 

Burt poured on some more speed and left the twisting road to take a more direct route. 

The man heard their approach. His head snapped around toward the noise of the power wagon. He started, then began to toss the equipment scattered around the car into the trunk with considerably less care than he'd shown prior to spotting them. 

As he slammed the trunk and went for the driver's side, Kylie said, "He's making a run for it." 

"He won't get far," Burt said confidently. 

The car started up and took off with a trail of dust, but Burt was right. The car just wasn't made for the rugged valley terrain and soon got stuck on a hill. The power wagon overtook it easily. 

Burt and Kylie got out and went to the driver's side of the car, where the man huddled, guilt and overdone innocence warring on his face. 

Burt leaned on the door, looking in. Kylie stood to the side, hands on knees, looking in as well. 

The man in the car gave them one nervous glance then stared resolutely out the front window. He had sandy brown, curling hair that stood out from his head at all angles, as if he'd forgotten to comb it for the past couple days. His blue eyes darted nervously out the front of the car, as if looking for escape - or rescue. 

"Going somewhere?" Burt asked casually. 

The man still refused to look at them. 

"Don't think he's going anywhere, Burt," Kylie commented. "Looks like he's stuck." 

On hearing Burt's name, the man jumped and almost looked toward them, seeming a cross between excited and scared to death. 

"What are you up to out here?" Burt asked suspiciously. 

"Y-you're Burt Gummer?" the man asked, his eyes darting to Burt then quickly back to the front. 

"Who wants to know?" Burt shot back. 

He swallowed nervously. "Jasper Ferris." He swallowed nervously, but finally managed to look at Burt for a moment. "I'm from MNI." 

Burt's eyes narrowed even further. "'MNI'?" he repeated. "That some kind of government agency?" 

"Um..." It was clear the man could tell from Burt's voice that 'government agency' was probably not the best thing to be. He made a visible decision to look Burt in the eye. "Um... not really." 

"But it does work for the government," Burt prompted. 

The man looked away, then nodded. 

"Oh, Lady," Kylie groaned, straightening. "From the government _and_ lurking around the Valley. This won't go well." 

Burt shot an annoyed glance at her then focused again on Ferris. "I ask again," he said, a little too gently, "What are you up to out here?" 

Jasper took a deep breath. "MNI - the Munroe Nanotechnology Institute - was doing some experiments out here..." 

"Oh great. He had to say the e-word," Kylie muttered. 

Burt silenced her with a look. "What kind of experiments?" he asked, straightening. 

The man hesitated and Kylie stepped forward to lean on the door. "You might as well spill it," she told him kindly. "You won't be going anywhere until you do." Burt tried to silence her by putting a firm hand on her shoulder, but she ignored him. She smiled at the man. "Now why don't you just tell Mr. Gummer what he needs to know?" 

Jasper stared at her, then at the tantalizing stretch of cleavage shown by her leaning on the door. His face flooded with color and he wuffed out a breath or two before he finally found his voice. "I-I'm just out to ch-check on the s-status of the diggers," he stuttered out. 

"'Diggers'?" Burt prompted, his eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What kind of diggers?" 

Kylie opened the car door and helped Jasper out, then took his arm. "Now, tell us all about these... 'diggers' did you call them?" 

Suddenly, the man smiled. "They're nano-scale - molecular - machines! They've surpassed even my wildest expectations. They can do anything - clean up oil spills, and rescue people trapped by earthquakes, and find ore, and oh - just anything!" He was really getting warmed up now. 

Kylie exchanged a glance with Burt then shrugged and went to lean on the back of the car - but gingerly, in case the thing fell apart as she did. 

"These are self-repairing, bottom up technology. There's nothing they can't do! They can scan and locate, differentiate at the atomic level, fabricate and assemble on the molecular level, and-and-and-- But, they, but, but they--" He stumbled over the words at this point, looking desperately between Burt and Kylie. "I've been trying to recall them, but they're not all responding to the signal. I--" 

"Your signal that's been interfering with our seismo system, endangering all our lives," Burt persisted. 

"Interfering?" Jasper said. "How could it--" He looked down at the rental wrist seismo he wore, then his eyes darted nervously around the surrounding terrain. "You mean..." his voice lowered to a frightened whisper, "...a graboid could be here, _right now_?" 

"Yes, a graboid. Your signal distorted our system. We would have no idea where El Blanco was." 

"B-b-but it's okay now, right?" he demanded. 

"Now that you've stopped your interference," Burt told him. "Now what have these diggers got to do with the signals interfering with my equipment?" 

"Well, they-- I-I was trying to recall them, of course. They've been reacting-- Well, malfunctioning. I'm not sure-- They are out of control," he blurted out. "They should have gotten them all, but I keep finding more. They keep tunneling and..." 

Burt and Kylie turned slowly to look at each other, dawning comprehension hitting at the same moment. "The pillar," said Burt, as Kylie cried, "That hole!" 

"It's the only explanation," Burt told her. 

She nodded, her lips a firm, flat line. 

As one, they turned back to Jasper. His words slowed died away. He turned frantically from one to the other. "What? What is it?" 

"Are these diggers of yours capable of disintegrating solid rock?" Burt demanded. 

"Of course," Jasper replied. "I just said that." He looked from Burt to Kylie and back again, disconcerted at their hardened expressions. "Th-th-they can soften rock and other, well, hard, um, substances, so we could-- 

Suddenly, Kylie leaped. In the space of a moment, she had him flat on the ground beneath her, hands locked around his neck. "We were almost killed, you shit! And that octopus thing! And _I fell down a hole!_" 

"Urk!" Jasper managed to squeeze out. 

Kylie bounced his head on the ground twice for good measure. 

Burt recovered swiftly. "_Kylie!_" he shouted. "_Stop it!_" She wasn't listening. He threw an arm around her waist and lifted, pulling them both up and shaking until Kylie's grasp on Jasper's neck finally broke. He set her behind him and turned back to Jasper. 

Kylie tried to dart around him but he quickly blocked her with his body, giving her a warning look. "Stay put," he growled. 

She didn't. 

Jasper crawled around his car and cowered, watching the interplay between them with wide, frightened eyes. 

"_Kylie, stop it!_" Burt shouted. He grasped her shoulders and lifted her up, giving her a shake to get her attention. 

She stared at him with outraged eyes, dragging in ragged breaths, still kicking to get loose. "Let me _go_, Burt! He-- he--" 

Burt nodded, pulling her toward him until their faces almost touched. "Stop it," he told her once again. He held her eyes another moment, until her own focused on him instead of Jasper. Then he set her back on her feet. But he held her shoulders. "He didn't know, Kylie," Burt explained, the irony of his being forced to talk Kylie down not entirely lost on him. "Stay there," he ordered, and turned back to Jasper. 

"Are you saying these things--" 

Burt saw something out of the corner of his eye and twisted, reaching back to take the gun that had appeared in Kylie's hand. "Are you insane?" he hissed. "Stop waving that damn thing around." 

Kylie glared back at him another moment, then looked away, taking a deep breath. She turned and gave Jasper one last glare then went to lean against the trunk of his car, her face a mask of sullen rage. 

After he was sure Kylie would stay put, Burt put her Kimber in his belt and turned back to Jasper. 

He was busy trying to hide under the car. Burt shook his head and pulled him out, then lifted him none-too-gently to his feet. He towered over him and scowled, glancing once at Kylie to be sure she maintained her position. "Are you saying these things are responsible for the degradation of the rock out here?" 

"I, I, I--" he started. "W-well, that is to say... Um... I... What degradation of the rock?" 

"We've had four sinkholes appear in solid rock over the past two months," Burt explained. "A solid rock shelf _we were on at the time_ disintegrated." 

Jasper's eyebrows rose in surprise, but one side of his mouth quirked into a smile. Then Kylie stood and stared fiercely at him, reminding him that the Valley's instability was not really a _good thing_. "That just isn't possible," he blurted out. "They couldn't do that. Of course-- Well, that could be-- I'm just, I'm not really, um, sure. Do you know where this has been happening?" 

"Watch him," Burt said, and strode toward the power wagon. As he passed, Kylie reached for her gun in Burt's belt. He pushed her hand away. "I said watch him, not shoot him." As Burt trudged away, Kylie crossed her arms and glared at Jasper. 

He tried to fold in on himself, in a futile attempt to appear small and harmless. 

"I've found five areas," Burt said as he returned with the Valley map he'd got from the truck. He spread the map across the hood of Jasper's car. "Here, here, and here, to the south, and these two, east of here." He pointed to five areas on the map. 

"You didn't tell me about those two," Kylie accused, pointing toward the last two areas he'd mentioned. 

Burt barely spared her a glance. As nervous as she'd been around the valley since the incident with that hole she'd fell in, he thought it prudent to leave some of his recent discoveries out of his discussions with her. "As you can see, there are two major problem areas." 

Jasper started to scramble into his car, eagerly, but Kylie grabbed him by the back of the shirt. "Wait a minute there." 

He spun, throwing himself back against the car. "I just-- I wanted to get my map," he said nervously. 

Kylie released him after a nod from Burt. "Yeah, just make sure that's all you get," she threatened. 

Jasper pulled out a survey map and spread it on the hood next to Burt's and all three leaned over it. The map had four areas marked: two in red and two in blue. Where the red and blue overlapped corresponded with Burt's two major problem areas. 

Burt and Kylie exchanged a glance. 

"Your nano," Burt explained, "have gone wild and are destroying the valley!" 

"But, but, but... That's impossible!" Jasper explained. "They can't--" 

"They can, and _are_," Burt informed him. "Now how are _you_ going to stop them?" 

"They can't!" Jasper repeated. "There is not sufficient quantity of the diggers to cause the destruction you're talking about." He caught Kylie's expression. "Well there's not..." 

Burt pressed his lips together, considering. He turned back to the maps. "What does the color coding mean?" 

"The red indicates the sites where MNI initially released the nano," he explained. "But those were all recovered." 

"And the red?" Burt prompted, relentlessly. 

Jasper looked away. "W-w-well those... They... ah... They're not... I developed a new variety, and... I had to test them... somewhere." His eyes slid across Kylie and settled on Burt. "MNI didn't... exactly... ah... sanction their release." He looked from Burt to Kylie then back to Burt. "But th-there were only a few! N-n-nowhere near the quantity it would take to do the damage you're talking about!" His eyes flew from Burt to Kylie and back again. "Honest!" 

"Oh, you government types," Burt began. "Want to tamper with the laws of nature. Secret experiments you have to run to see how badly you can bungle things up. Always thinking you know better..." Burt continued in this vein for some time. Kylie nodded periodically, in complete agreement with Burt for a change. 

Jasper blinked first at Burt, then toward Kylie. His eyes slid toward his disabled car. 

At last, Burt's comments on the government, secrecy, "experiments run amok," and, oddly, the evils of water filtration, started to wind down. 

Kylie turned back to Jasper. "Have you got any way of detecting this nano crap you've infested the Valley with?" 

"Well... yes, of course," Jasper said. "I've got the standard issue unit with me, naturally. I've been working on a new, smaller device, however. It's quite ingenious, really. It can detect a-- 

Kylie waved it off. "As long as you can find these nano-whatsits and get rid of them." She turned to Burt. 

He nodded. "We'll start at the cave-in." 

They piled all Jasper's equipment - standard and experimental models - into the back of Burt's truck and took off for the first site. 

Kylie made Jasper sit in the back with the equipment. 


	4. Part 4

**It's the Little Things**  
**Part 4**

As soon as they arrived at the cave-in site, Jasper had his handheld scanner out and began tapping on the screen to activate different displays. "This is amazing!" he said, excited. "There are thousands-- hundreds of thousands of them! How could that be?" He adjusted the display again, filtering the content. 

Kylie looked over his shoulder. He tapped through the different screens too quickly for her to keep track. She didn't understand the readouts anyway. "Why?" 

He started when she spoke, having forgotten her presence. He glanced at her. "W-why what?" 

"Why are there so many? Didn't you say they collected all of the first ones? And you only released a few?" 

Jasper nodded. "There were only five thousand or so..." 

"Five thousand? Isn't that a little more than 'a few'?" she demanded. 

"Well, uh, they're..." he held his fingers close together, "...very small." 

"Why are there so many now?" Burt demanded, getting the discussion back on track. 

Jasper shook his head. "I have no idea. There shouldn't be this many." He looked around for inspiration, but found only Kylie glaring up at him. "Let me... ah... I'll get the other equipment." 

They hauled the rest of the equipment out of the truck and started scanning with that. Jasper said little while he quickly assembled the equipment, and other than a few "Hmmmm's" and "Oh's" once the displays came to life, he gave Burt and Kylie few clues to the status of the analysis, or the extent of the nano's spread. 

Kylie broke first. 

"I say we kill him." 

The two were sitting on a rock, watching Jasper scurry back and forth, spouting technobabble periodically, and otherwise ignoring the two victims of his "experiments run amok." 

Burt's eyes slid over to her just long enough to ascertain that she wasn't making any threatening moves toward the scientist. She only sat with her chin on her knees, her glittering eyes following his every move. "Are you serious?" 

She glanced his way. "No," she replied glumly. 

Burt shook his head at her theatrics then focused on Jasper again, his mouth in a thin, flat line. There seemed to be some excitement, he thought, from the man's suddenly changed behavior. He was flitting from box to box, and double-checking their readouts with the custom device he held in his hand. 

Before Kylie change her mind and decide to do something drastic, Burt slipped off the rock and walked toward Jasper. 

Kylie jumped down to follow close behind him. 

"What have you found out?" Burt demanded. 

The scientist jumped and spun, surprised at Burt's sudden appearance. His eyes flicked to Kylie, at Burt's shoulder, then back to somewhat safer ground. 

"I had no idea how there could be so many!" he told Burt fervently. "I thought there was a glitch in the system or maybe MNI hadn't been as-as-as thorough as they, well, should have been, in cleanup, but no! There really are about two million of them, all through this rubble. It's impossible, I don't see how, and it just can't happen, but there they are!" 

Jasper beamed up at Burt as if that explained everything. 

"What _happened_?" Kylie demanded, as Burt opened his mouth. 

Jasper started again. "My experimental nano has somehow replicated with MNI's nano that got left behind and they've created a hybrid," he said. His eyes darted from Kylie to Burt and back again. "Didn't I make that clear?" 

"No, you didn't," Burt said, his chin thrusting out belligerently. 

"But, but, but-- Do you know what this means?" Jasper continued, oblivious to Burt's coming explosion. "They did this all by themselves! I haven't programmed them for anything like this, and I know MNI wouldn't--" 

"_Those things are destroying my valley!_" Burt bellowed. 

Jasper's flow of words stopped, mid-sentence, his mouth still open and ready to talk. It suddenly dawned on him that these less enlightened people might not be as keen as he on the obvious scientific breakthrough as this was. 

"How do we _stop_ them?" Burt wanted to know. 

"Stop them?" Jasper blurted out. "But-- I-- Well... I... Ummmm... The, er, original strain could be deactivated by a specific radio frequency." 

"And the new kind?" Kylie demanded. 

"I hadn't... um... I hadn't actually got that far..." Jasper admitted. 

Kylie and Burt exchanged a look. 

"So what did you intend to do with them," Kylie persisted, "just let them run rampant through our valley?" 

"Oh no!" Jasper said on a proud grin. "They have a retrieve signal. I can just call them and they return." 

"And what about this hybrid?" Burt asked. 

"They-they should..." Jasper consulted his handheld device again, clicking on the display with his stylus. "They should, I think, be deactivated with the original ones... If they use the same frequency... I think." 

Kylie glanced at Burt again when she heard a strangled sound from him. "And do you _know_ this frequency?" Kylie asked, forcing her voice to calm. She recognized Burt's look and knew she'd never be able to pull him off Jasper if Burt gave in to what he so obviously beginning to want to do. 

Jasper nodded, then shook his head. "I do," he finally admitted. "But-- I just-- I don't-- I haven't actually got the equipment, really. Not here. I can't reproduce it and, well, broadcasting, I'd--" He spread his arms wide, indicating the whole valley. "I couldn't broadcast it. I'd--" He shook his head helplessly. 

Kylie looked to Burt and watched him squirm his mouth around as he often did when coming up with the solution to an insurmountable problem. 

"You can reproduce the signal if you had the equipment?" Burt confirmed, his eyes skeptical. 

Jasper nodded fervently. 

Burt looked to Kylie, rubbing his chin. "The ABDS might work." 

"Yeah!" she said. "We could hook it up to that! It's all over the valley." 

Burt shook his head. "The modulator unit's blown." 

Kylie's shoulders slumped. "There's got to be a way, Burt." 

He stared at her a minute more, as if for inspiration. Then his brow cleared. "I've got an idea," he said. 

Kylie beamed, and turned to Jasper. "He's always got a solution," she explained. 

"It's in the shed behind Tyler's garage," Burt informed them. 

As they neared town, Jasper once again bouncing around in the back of the truck, Burt slowed the power wagon and brought it to a stop. He scowled at the town then turned angry eyes to Kylie. 

She was affronted. "It's not _my_ fault your fan club's still here," she said. 

Burt shook his head and looked away. 

"We could call Larry," Kylie said. "He could get the stuff, maybe." 

"No," Burt countered. "It's too big to move. It'll have to be set up in there." 

"It's almost dark," Kylie suggested. "Can't we sneak in from behind? They're all over at the water tower. If we come in from around behind Nancy's - go real slow so they don't hear us..." 

Burt shrugged. It could work. "We'll never get near it if they see us." 

Kylie gave him a sympathetic look and patted his arm. "That bad, huh?" 

Burt gave her a look. "You have no idea..." 

They parked the truck a dozen yards behind the garage and scurried quietly toward the building, first Kylie, then Jasper, following Burt. 

He only paused once to make Kylie stop humming the theme from Mission Impossible. 

Kylie, wearing dark red top and blue jeans, was able to hide in the shadows long enough to slip around front and open the door, then let the men in through the bolted door at the side. 

Burt hurried over to a tarp-covered mound in the corner without bothering to turn on the light. He whipped the tarp back and uncovered a huge monstrosity of an electrical device. 

Even Kylie could tell it had to be decades out of date. 

"I'm doomed," Jasper said. He looked plaintively from Burt to Kylie. "I can't work with that. I have no idea how to-- Out there is _nanotechnology_ - you've got-got-got vacuum tubes." 

"It will still transmit a frequency," Burt insisted, stooping behind the machine to hook it up and turn it on. "We'll loop it through the ABDS and cover the whole valley." The machine hummed darkly a few minutes, but it finally flickered and switched on, lights and dials coming to life one by one. Burt reached for one of the dials and turned to Jasper. "What's the frequency?" 

"I-- Just--" Jasper flipped open his handheld and started tapping away at the screen. 

"How's this supposed to work?" Kylie asked, as much for information as to distract him from glowering at Jasper while they waited for him to do what he should have already done on the ride there. Kylie's tactic wasn't lost on Burt. At least she wasn't trying to strangle Jasper anymore. He gave in and turned his attention away from Jasper. 

"We have to set up _this_ equipment to communicate with the equipment at the ABDS site. That equipment will receive the signal, broadcast it through the valley and, if this _scientist_ knows what he's talking about," Burt's expression made clear what he thought were the odds on that, "these nano-machines will deactivate." 

"All right," Jasper broke in. "I've got it." He showed Burt the screen, and the two fiddled with the dials, getting it set up properly. The old equipment was a little more temperamental than current technology. 

Kylie took a quick look out the windows. "Uh-oh," she said. 

Burt quirked one eyebrow at her, his mind still more on his task than her. 

"They're starting to line up for a tour," Kylie warned. "Makes things a little tricky getting out of here." 

Burt shook his head, but turned back to focus his attention on the equipment while Kylie made sure the fan club groups weren't getting any closer to the shed. 

"All right, let's go," Burt said when the equipment was set up. They all started for the back door, but Burt hesitated. 

"What?" Kylie asked. 

"We should secure this," Burt said. "I wouldn't want anyone coming in here and disturbing the equipment. Who knows what the wrong frequency will do to those destructive little machines." Burt had his eye on the women they could just barely see through the two grimy windows on the front of the shed. 

"Oh no," Jasper agreed. "If the frequency is off even a-- Well, that--" 

Burt and Kylie's heads swiveled to regard him inquiringly. 

He looked from one to the other. "It... um... It would be bad." 

"We better lock it up." Kylie agreed. She looked around. The front door had a lock, but the back door was just held in place by a bar - no way to secure that from the outside. "You two go out the back and I'll lock up and follow." 

It was clear Burt didn't like the plan. "They're sure to see you if you go out the front." 

"So? They're not _my_ fan club." She pushed at him and the two men went out the door. Once she bolted it in place she went to the front and peered out. The women were chatting excitedly amongst themselves. They wouldn't even notice her. 

She waited a few moments to give Burt and Jasper time to get to the truck, then opened the door a fraction and slipped out as quietly as she could. As she turned the lock then pulled the door closed, the hinges gave a loud, high-pitched squeal. She froze in place, looking to see if the women had noticed. A couple of them turned to look, then went back to their conversation, dismissing her. 

She breathed a sigh of relief, latched the door, and started for the truck. 

Then she heard, "_It's him!_" 

No need to ask who "him" was. With the rest of the women, Kylie looked up to where she knew Burt had to be. 

Sure enough, Burt and Jasper hadn't quite made it to the truck before the women spotted them. 

Suddenly, screaming, frenzied women were rushing past her. 

Burt's expression was a classic she'd remember for the rest of her life. He clearly wanted to flee, but the man who single-handedly took on graboids, shriekers and assblasters refused to back down from a bunch of paltry women. His frozen posture and alarmed expression reflected his inner turmoil. 

Jasper knew no such reluctance. He ran for all he was worth. 

Kylie giggled. This was going to be... great. She thought about stepping into the house to get her camera. 

The women quickly overtook Burt and surrounded him. He was captured. The ladies all jockeyed for a better position close to Burt and he jostled this way and that, trying to dislodge hands from places they shouldn't have gone. Kylie laughed out loud when one of them got his hat, but he ducked and disappeared, only to reappear a moment later with it back on his head. 

Score one for the big guy, she thought. Then she wondered what else the women were grabbing for. From what she could make out of his expression in the fading light, it wasn't something anyone had been grabbing for in a while. 

Tyler's tour jeep pulled up and the lights illuminated the scene, allowing Kylie get a good look at Burt's expression. 

The grin dropped away from her face. Burt had such a look of fearful agony on his face that Kylie's heart went out to him. She knew he was uncomfortable around people - strangers especially, and the more there were, the worse he got. If the people were women, he could sometimes almost panic. She wasn't entirely certain if he was completely comfortable around her all the time - definitely not when she was teasing him; and he knew by now that teasing was all it was. But these women weren't teasing. They were for real, and this wasn't "almost panic," this was the real thing. 

She had to stop it. 

She waded into the crowd, pushing and shoving. "Hey, fun's fun, and all," she shouted, "_but the party's over!_" 

They weren't paying the least bit of attention to her. As far as they were concerned, she was just another female fan trying to get a good position next to their idol. And not a very big one at that. Most of these women, she realized, outweighed her by a hundred pounds or more. And they were desperate. She was strong, but in a shoving contest, her lack of mass was against her. 

The group shifted and moved away from her as Burt tried to retreat. She got another look at his face, as he spotted her and threw her a pleading look. 

This from the man who'd rather die horribly than ask for help... 

Her lips thinned resolutely and her hand went to her hip. "Drastic times call for drastic measures," she muttered, as she flipped open the holster and pulled the Kimber. She started toward the crowd as she chambered a around. 

_BANG - BANG_

The crowd parted like the proverbial Red Sea as the women turned to see where the shooting was coming from and instinctively scooted away from it at the same time. The voices and hubbub instantly stilled. 

Kylie didn't slow, but she did lower her gun to point at the ground. 

"Y'all need to keep your hands _off_ my man!" she shouted in her best Texas accent. While they - and Burt - stood there stunned, she went to Burt and slipped an arm around his waist. "Come on, honey," she said loud enough for the crowd, and tugged at him. They made their escape while the women were still stunned. 

Silently, they hurried to the truck. The two shared a carefully neutral glance once they were inside, then Kylie turned to put her .45 back in its holster as Burt turned the ignition and drove. 

Kylie knew that glance was about the only thank you she was likely to ever get, and this was not the time to make any of the dozens of pithy comments that were flooding her mind. 

Later, she promised herself. 


	5. Part 5

**It's the Little Things**  
**Part 5**

They arrived at Burt's project and hurried to get the equipment set up. Jasper fussed over each knob and dial, insisting that they be set just so, in sequence, according to the readouts on his handheld. 

Burt didn't waste time with that. He studied the settings Jasper was making, looked at the readouts on his handheld, and quickly rigged the device to work. 

Jasper was astonished. 

"You'll find Burt's rather a quick study," Kylie informed him proudly. 

"But, but..." Jasper puffed out his cheeks and nodded toward Burt. "You could easily get a job at MNI," he commented. "I could--" 

"Spend my life as a government stooge?" Burt scoffed contemptuously. "I don't think so." 

Kylie headed off the coming storm by pointing out one of the meter needles that was fluctuating wildly and the men turned to their work. 

Kylie just shook her head and watched. 

Finally, the men stood back, arms crossed, and waited. 

Kylie looked from one to the other, waiting for one of them to show a reaction. Shout "Eureka!" or something. 

They didn't move. 

"_Well?_" she demanded at last. "I don't _hear_ anything." 

Burt turned to her. "You wouldn't be able to hear it. Out of the human range of hearing." 

"So how do we know if the nano are still busily digging away?" 

"We'll have to go check," Burt said, and shoved Jasper toward the truck again. 

Back at the cave-in site, Jasper again busied himself with the big piece of equipment, his hands darting over the controls with confident ease. 

Kylie looked left and right, and over to Burt for reassurance. He was studying Jasper and ignoring her. She started wondering if the ground was going to disappear beneath her. If the nano were causing these cave-ins, and this was where they found the biggest concentration of them, shouldn't they all be falling into big giant holes right now and getting grabbed by huge hairy monsters? She took a step closer to Burt and waited. Finally, though, she couldn't take it anymore. "_So?_ Are they gone? Dead? Marching home like good little soldiers?" 

"I don't know," Jasper said. "I'm not sure. I-- They could be-- If they-- Well, they might--" 

"Don't know?" Kylie repeated. "Well get out your tricorder and find out!" 

"Oh! Yes!" Jasper dug out his handheld. He scanned for a while and finally turned to Burt. "I think it's working! They're-- well, some of them are shut down. It could take a-- Of course, some will be more durable than others and... There's not as much activity, at least. I'm not sure if..." He noticed Burt wasn't paying attention to him anymore. 

Burt had other things to worry about. "What the hell?" He went to the seismo monitor. Kylie followed and Jasper trailed along behind. "El Blanco is making a beeline for the south end of the valley," he said. Then an idea hit him. "Oh no! No!" 

"What?" Kylie wanted to know. They didn't need any more bad news today. 

"The signal!" Burt groaned. "It's driving El Blanco crazy!" 

"So turn it off!" Kylie said. 

"No, not this one, the original! The other machine. It's attracting him." 

"Oh goddess..." Kylie whispered. "That one's..." 

Burt nodded. "Right in the middle of town." 

Kylie followed as Burt headed for the truck, turning back just long enough to grab Jasper by the arm and drag him along too. They headed back to town as fast as they could, trying to beat El Blanco to the signal. 

"He'll have to go around the big granite extrusion," Burt explained. "Maybe we can get there first." 

As they went screaming toward town, Kylie turned to Jasper, holding on to the rollbar for dear life. "Has the signal done it's job? Are they dead?" 

Jasper reached for the handheld in his pocket, but the power wagon slammed over a bump in the road and the scientist grabbed for the rollbar with both hands again. He nodded, then shrugged. "I don't know!" he shouted back over the sound of the truck's powerful engine. "I think they were almost-- They should be all-- We'll just have to hope!" 

The truck threw up a cloud of dirt and dust as they pulled into town and skidded up to the building behind Tyler's garage. Burt threw himself out of the truck and hurried toward the door, only pausing briefly to kick open the lock. He rushed in and pulled the plug on the machine. The lights and dials faded as it died with a high-pitched feedback whine. 

Kylie covered her ears and turned away, scurrying back out of the shed and wishing she hadn't been so fast to follow Burt in here. 

The sight that met her eyes made her turn back around and join Burt inside. He was just following her out and the two collided. Burt staggered backward, and Kylie just pushed him further. She got into the building then turned and slammed the door shut. 

_Tried_ to slam it shut. The door hung from one hinge and didn't quite fit what was left of the frame. The shed wasn't in the best of condition to start with, and Burt's hurried assault on the door hadn't done it much good. Kylie did the best she could and threw herself in front of the door. 

"They're coming!" 

Through the grimy windows, Burt could see what she was talking about. A writhing sea of women wearing "Burt Gummer Fan Club" t-shirts swarmed toward the tiny building. To make matters worse, their seismos went off. 

Burt didn't waste time, but shoved Kylie aside and flung open the door to warn the women. "Stand still! You must remain quiet!" 

His loudly whispered orders fell on deaf ears. The women kept coming. 

El Blanco burst out of the ground between the women and their quarry, knocking the first wave to the ground. His tentacles grabbed two of the women, prompting the rest to scatter for their lives. The two trapped women screamed and pawed at the ground in futile attempts to escape the maw of the worm. 

Burt came to the rescue with a well-placed concussion grenade. 

El Blanco, followed by his writhing tentacles, slipped back underground and roared away. 

"That won't hold him long with these women ringing the dinner bell!" He shouted to Kylie over the hubbub the women were making. 

"You've stirred 'em up," Kylie said. She could make out the occasional individual comment - "What a hero!" and "So brave!" - and knew the women were just gathering themselves for another frontal Burt Assault. She didn't think her Kimber would have much effect this time, unless she was willing to fire a couple warning shots into the women in the first rank. 

"Come on!" She grabbed Burt and dragged him toward the power wagon as the women surged forward. 

"It's too late to escape!" Burt shouted as they began to converge on them. "And El Blanco will be back in a minute." 

"I know!" Kylie said. "You'll have to make the ultimate sacrifice." 

She shoved him into the truck and kept on shoving until Burt was standing up in the back of the truck. Kylie stood beside him, encouraging the crowd to cheer for their hero. Once she had their attention, she started making motions for them to be quiet, indicating that Burt wanted to say a few words. 

"I'm not going to make a speech!" Burt protested behind her, even pulling his hat down around his eyes. "Now isn't the time--" 

"If we can get them to shut the hell up for a minute," Kylie said, forcing a smile for the crowd to her face, "you can tell them to get lost because El Blanco's coming back." Burt's face said he still didn't like the idea. "They won't listen to me, you know, and the only other option is to start shooting. You want me to get the rifles?" 

Burt grimaced and eyed the finally quieting crowd resentfully, but nodded at last. 

As the crowd fell silent, Kylie said, "Mr. Gummer would like to make an announcement, Ladies, so if you'll just give him a minute of your time..." That just stirred them up again, but they quieted quickly enough when Kylie stepped back behind Burt and their attention focused on him. 

He stood, hands clasped behind his back in his traditional parade rest stance. Moments ticked by as Burt stared over the sea of faces and tried to think of what to say. 

Kylie stifled a grin and shifted so she was hidden behind Burt. "Pretend they're a survival school class, Burt," she suggested in a whisper. 

He threw her a sour glance, but began speaking, staring out over the women's heads. "In approximately four-and-a-half minutes, Perfection's Great White Graboid, El Blanco, will return. If you're still here when he does..." 

With occasional prompting from Kylie, Burt outlined the possible fate of each and every one of the women should they be in Perfection when the graboid returned. Their fate seemed a bit more gruesome than it would have been if Burt alone was coming up with what to say, but he wasn't a woman and followed Kylie's advice on what to say to these who were. 

Whether it was the threat of certain grisly death or the satisfaction of finally getting to see and hear the Great Man speak to them in person at last, the women quickly got in their cars and vans, boarded their buses, and at last, cleared out of Perfection. El Blanco, as far as Burt was able to ascertain, gave them an escort to the far south of the Valley, then turned back and wandered west, avoiding Perfection entirely. 

When the monitors showed El Blanco turning away from the road, Burt heaved a sign of relief. 

"Well, at least they're gone, Burt," Kylie said, standing next to him beside the truck. 

"Until next year," Burt sighed sadly. 

"They do this every year?" 

Burt considered a moment, then nodded. "Every year about this time." 

Kylie giggled, earning a frown from Burt. "I'm looking forward to next year's gathering." 

He just grumbled something to himself, his expression sour. 

"Don't worry big guy." Kylie slipped an arm around his waist and leaned against him. "I'll protect ya." 

And for just a moment, Burt allowed it. 

END


End file.
